Lucas returned to the exclusive apartment Vought International had arranged for him, took a shower, and lay on the sofa scrolling through his phone.
Feeling a bit thirsty midway, he noticed the liquor cabinet was filled with various famous wines, none of which looked cheap just from the bottles.
Then he thought about his salary package of twelve million US dollars a year.
Lucas shook his head, feeling like he was about to be bought off by the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism.
Popularity rises and falls; traffic couldn’t possibly stay focused on him alone forever.
Online emotion collection would naturally fluctuate.
It seemed this was also a variable, and he had to maintain high exposure.
Current Evolution Points: 54,676 / 100,000
Lucas was calculating which key character to contact next, or where to go to fight crime, when his phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed an unknown number.
This phone of his was quite private, and very few people had the number.
He figured it must be from Vought International.
"Mr. Guardian? I’m Ashley Barrett from Vought Public Relations."
The voice on the other end of the line was fast and anxious.
"We need to talk about what happened tonight. As soon as possible, please come over."
Lucas glanced at the time: 1:40 AM.
What a fucking psychopath!
Who calls in the middle of the night?
"Tomorrow morning at nine, in your office."
"But—"
Lucas didn’t care why Ashley was still working overtime at 1:40 AM; he hung up immediately.
Rolling over, he fell asleep in two seconds.
A Viltrumite’s physique didn’t require much sleep, but he liked sleeping—a habit developed in his past life.
Besides, letting Ashley stress out for a few more hours wasn’t a bad thing.
...
At exactly nine o’clock the next morning.
Lucas showed up at the door of Ashley’s office right on time.
He walked right in without even knocking.
Ashley sat behind her desk, with three laptops spread out in front of her and seven or eight empty coffee cups piled by her hand.
Her dark circles were so heavy it looked like she had been punched twice.
She had clearly stayed up all night.
"Sit, please sit," Ashley said, standing up and forcing a professional smile. "Coffee? Water?"
After being stood up by Lucas all night, Ashley didn’t dare utter a single complaint. Seeing that the man himself had finally arrived, she immediately put on a flattering smile.
As an insider, she was somewhat of an executive at Vought, so she naturally knew that the man in front of her was no easier to deal with than Homelander.
"Get to the point."
Ashley took a deep breath and turned one of the laptop screens around.
On the screen was the surveillance footage of the conference room from last night.
The angle was very clear: the door was kicked flying, the Deep was standing in the middle with his pants half off, Annie was on her knees, and then Lucas flew in.
"The Seven’s private floor has full surveillance coverage," Ashley said rapidly. "Currently, only the security director and I have seen this footage. I’ve already locked the original file, and the security team has signed non-disclosure agreements, but..."
Her hand unconsciously reached for her hair and yanked at it.
"I need your cooperation. If this video leaks, the Deep is finished, the brand image of The Seven will take a massive hit, and Vought’s stock price will..."
"Are you teaching me how to do my job?"
Ashley shut her mouth.
Lucas leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and resting them on the corner of her desk, looking as relaxed as if he were in his own home.
Actually, he wasn’t even this arrogant in his own home.
"Ashley, right? I remember you. You’re a smart person, so I can tell you this."
He held up a finger.
"First, keep the video suppressed. No need to destroy it, just keep a backup locked under the highest clearance."
"Second, starting today, the Deep is not to participate in any core activities of The Seven. Find an excuse—send him on a public charity tour, or have him cut ribbons at an aquarium, I don’t care. Just make him disappear from Starlight’s sight."
Ashley opened her mouth to say something, but Lucas didn’t give her the chance.
"If you find it difficult, I can go talk to the Deep myself. However, my way of talking might not be very suitable for inside the Vought Tower. You should have seen the video of that slap A-Train took."
Ashley’s hand trembled, and she hurriedly stopped him.
"No, no, no! Don’t be impulsive, everything is negotiable!"
"I... I need to consult Madelyn first—"
"Sure, but I won’t back down. The internal culture of The Seven is far too corrupt." Lucas stood up, preparing to leave. "Even if you keep someone like the Deep in the group, he’ll blow up sooner or later. Today it’s Starlight, tomorrow it could be one of his fans."
"Is it really that hard to find a superhero who promotes environmentalism? Do we absolutely have to use a twisted pervert like him?"
"I believe that with Vought’s resources, if we get rid of the Deep, there will be plenty of people willing to replace him."
Ashley was already making a call, her hands shaking so much that she misdialed twice.
...
[Key Character: Ashley Barrett]
[Emotion Change: Fear / Helplessness / Forced Obedience]
[Evolution Points Gained: +743]
Lucas coming out of Ashley’s office, originally planned to go downstairs for breakfast.
Just as he reached the elevator, a voice came from behind him.
"Guardian?"
Starlight stood at the end of the hallway, dressed in casual clothes: a white hoodie, jeans, and sneakers.
Her slightly chubby, baby-faced cheeks looked so pure, making her the quintessential blonde sweetheart.
"Are you waiting for me?" Lucas asked, curious.
"Do you have a moment?"
"Yes."
"Can we find somewhere to talk? Not here, there are cameras everywhere."
Lucas thought about it.
"How about the rooftop?"
...
The rooftop of Vought Tower.
The wind was strong, offering a view of half of Manhattan.
With a precise flick of his finger, Lucas sent a compressed air bullet flying to destroy the rooftop camera.
"About last night..." Annie spoke first, her expression filled with doubt. "How did you know?"
"If you’re asking whether I was spying on you, I wasn’t," Lucas said.
"I have Super Hearing. I can hear most sounds inside the tower."
"So you’ve been listening all along?"
"Of course not on purpose. There’s no on-off switch for Super Hearing, so I can only do my best to filter out other useless information."
Annie was silent for a moment.
"I’ve wanted to be a superhero since I was a kid. My mom told me when I was very young that I was special, that I could save the world. I always believed her, right up until last night."
She looked down at her hands.
"Joining The Seven was my dream, but on the very first night, I was almost..."
Lucas didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what Annie’s purpose was in seeking him out.
Expressing gratitude? It was just a casual gesture on his part.
Annie took a deep breath.
"Why did you join Vought?"
"For the money and the fame. Vought can give me what I want."
Annie turned to look at him.
Lucas shrugged. "I’m not joking. Before joining the Vought family, I only had thirty-seven dollars in my bank account."
"And Edgar offered me a price I couldn’t refuse: a twelve million annual salary and a Midtown apartment. The catch is that while I can still fly around the streets fighting crime, I have to be affiliated with Vought International. Only an idiot would turn down an offer like that."
Annie’s expression was somewhat surprised.
She had assumed Guardian joined Vought International for the sake of fairness and justice.
How... how could his reason be so...
"But you didn’t save me for money or fame, did you?"
"That was just a casual gesture!" Lucas shrugged. "Even though Vought is a shithole, I can still choose to do what I want. Saving you was simply because I couldn’t stand seeing a pervert get his way."
Lucas made up a random excuse.
He saved Starlight purely because she could provide Evolution Points.
As for women, Starlight was indeed pretty and cute, but his Viltrumite blood made him prefer women with a tougher appearance, like Queen Maeve.
"This conversation is a bit different from what I imagined."
Starlight pouted, having expected a soulful exchange between two idealists.
Instead, the guy opposite her was a total straight-shooter.
"That’s the gap between ideals and reality, kid!"
"You’re only about a year older than me, so stop acting like you’re some wise elder!"
Annie instinctively nudged Lucas.
The action was so natural that by the time she realized what she had done, it was already too late.
Annie stole a glance at Lucas.
He didn’t seem to mind.
[Key Character: Annie January (Starlight)]
[Emotion Change: Confusion -> Relief -> Deepened Trust]
[Evolution Points Gained: +1,847]
Current Evolution Points: 57,266 / 100,000
The two of them stayed on the rooftop for over twenty minutes, chatting about random things.
After some small talk and sharing a bit about themselves, Lucas became Starlight’s first friend at Vought.
...
After she left, Lucas stood on the rooftop for a little longer.
His Super Hearing caught the sound of a heartbeat that was moving away.
The frequency was very familiar.
It was Homelander’s heartbeat.
How long had he been listening from above?
Lucas didn’t know.
But even just guessing, he knew Homelander must have come because of the Deep.
Homelander hated losing control of things, especially The Seven under his command.
Now, someone was actually trying to interfere with the stay or departure of a member of The Seven without consulting him!
This undoubtedly violated Homelander’s taboo.
"Oh, getting anxious now, are we?"
Lucas grinned.
...
Vought Tower.
Homelander’s private room.
He stood in front of the French windows, arms crossed, staring at his reflection in the glass.
His face was absolutely perfect, his blonde hair combed impeccably.
But his expression... was more uncomfortable than if he had swallowed ten thousand flies.
The Deep was about to be marginalized, and this was an order delivered to him personally by Edgar!
It was not to be argued or questioned.
Bang!
The window glass shattered, and a cold wind rushed in.
Homelander’s expression slowly lost all composure.